The Giants are already reshaping themselves in John Harbaugh’s image. They reunited with All-Pro punter Jordan Stout on a three-year, $12.3 million deal that will make him the highest-paid player at his position, and they moved on from Jamie Gillan right after.
Then they added Tremaine Edmunds on a three-year, $36 million contract after his release from Chicago, giving the middle of the defense a veteran with range, size, and real ball production. Those are not draft picks, obviously, but they tell you what this offseason is starting to look like. Harbaugh is not easing into the job.
That is what makes New York such an interesting team at No. 5 overall, and after the combine, the mock-draft conversation around the Giants has sharpened into a few very real directions rather than one lazy consensus.
OT Francis Mauigoa, Miami
Tim Crean keeps the Giants on offense and gives them Francis Mauigoa at No. 5. That fit is easier to understand now than it would have been a month ago, and the Giants can say all the right things about continuing to build around Jaxson Dart, but if the right side of the line stays shaky, the whole offense becomes a weekly stress test.
Mauigoa is attractive because he looks like a player who can start at tackle without needing to be hidden, and he also carries enough size and raw strength that you can imagine him settling a position group instead of just filling a spot in it.
Crean’s mock has the Giants thinking like a team that wants to stop flirting with patchwork answers up front.
There is also a bigger football reason here, and Harbaugh can bring over all the Ravens influence he wants, but if the Giants want to run the ball with real conviction and use heavier personnel without feeling exposed in dropback situations. Mauigoa is the kind of pick that says the Giants are tired of reacting to pressure problems after the fact.
LB Sonny Styles, Ohio State
Jordan Reid gives the Giants Sonny Styles, and this is the pick that probably became more believable than any other once the combine ended. Styles dazzled in Indianapolis, and Reid’s explanation cuts right to the point because he thinks Styles’ profile fits the kind of defense Harbaugh is likely to want in New York, and it is easy to see why.
Styles is a converted safety who now looks built for the middle, and that combination changes how a defense can function.
This fit feels especially real because of the Tremaine Edmunds signing, and some would argue that adding Edmunds should take linebacker off the table, but I think it does the opposite.
He could play next to a veteran, learn the communication side, and still make an impact immediately because his athleticism shows up in so many situations.
There is risk, of course. Drafting an off-ball linebacker fifth overall is still unusual, no matter how athletic the player is, but this is a coaching matter.
CB Jermod McCoy, Tennessee
Lance Zierlein takes a different path and sends Jermod McCoy to New York. This is the high-upside gamble of the bunch because McCoy missed the 2025 season while recovering from an ACL tear, and that absence naturally creates hesitation.
But Zierlein’s mock tells you something about how teams could see him once they get comfortable with the medicals. At his best, McCoy looks like a top-tier coverage prospect, the kind of corner who can change your options on the back end instead of just surviving them.
Harbaugh has already shown he wants to tighten the structure of the roster, and adding a true outside corner is one of the fastest ways to make a defense feel more complete.
A corner who can hold up in the press and compete for the ball gives the entire unit more freedom.
This is not the safest projection in the roundup, of course. McCoy requires a leap of faith because you are betting on who he was before the injury and who he looks like when fully healthy, not just on a fresh season of tape.
S Caleb Downs, Ohio State
Jaime Eisner, The Draft Network
Jaime Eisner’s post-combine mock sends Caleb Downs to the Giants, and this is probably the most “Harbaugh” projection in the whole group. Eisner’s reasoning, later echoed in Giants.com’s own mock-draft tracker, is that positional value should not stop the Giants from taking a defensive back with rare instincts and rare flexibility if they believe he is one of the best players in the class.
Harbaugh watched firsthand what a hybrid defensive back can do for a defense when that player is not just talented, but advanced mentally, and Downs has that reputation.
He is being mocked here because he looks like a player who could become one of the schematic centers of a defense in a hurry.
What makes Downs more interesting than a standard safety projection is how many jobs he can plausibly do. In a Harbaugh defense, the disguise game gets stronger when one player can change the picture before and after the snap without the rest of the defense having to panic around him.
What's next for the Giants?
The Giants’ post-combine board feels unusually revealing because every credible projection is pointing to something that makes sense in the real world. Mauigoa says the offense still needs stronger walls around the quarterback, and Styles says Harbaugh wants more speed and command in the middle of the defense, for example.
McCoy's style of game is a premium talent swing, just like Downs.
After the combine is clear that Styles and Mauigoa are the two that feel most believable right now, one because Harbaugh’s history makes the linebacker fit feel natural, the other because the line still needs more than hope.
But New York is not panicking at all.
The Giants have already started shaping the roster with Stout and Edmunds, and that is a nice move for them, but what's next?
